


lost in the times of sand

by Pinnacle of Failure (Cromirn)



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Gen, not finished lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 03:11:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16778443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cromirn/pseuds/Pinnacle%20of%20Failure
Summary: Sakura was dead for longer than she could handle. Her body decayed as she watched, and there was nothing she could do; not even as she watched her squad die.





	lost in the times of sand

**Author's Note:**

> ha i didnt have time and its midnight rn but i guess somethings better than nothing tbh
> 
> this aint completed but maybe ill come around to actually finish it(not) lol
> 
> this is also for the sasosaku month prompt 'Preservation' oof

The air rested still around her. Time froze for a moment, the moment when Sakura could see her world bleed to darkness, the moment that she could see Naruto lose his arm his life his rasengan, the moment that Sasuke lost his heart his arm his chidori. 

She lays broken on the ground, turning to ash as the moments pass. Victory was never guaranteed, yet she took it upon herself to think this of one. She made herself take it as one. Her chakra burns through her blood, keeping it flowing, keeping it away from her wounds and the absorbent ashes around her. She is dead, had died four hours ago when she struck Kaguya down.

But chakra, the thing she kept hundred of thousands of people alive with, had kept her moving, kept her blood moving, kept her heart pumping. If Zetsu had gone like he was meant to, they would have stopped fighting, they would have gotten help and Sakura would have died. But she has to help her boys, she has to help her village. 

Her pulse is faint, she knows that, but her heart beats too roughly, it pounds at her skull and she can see the blood pulse around in her vision. She lays face down, head tilted just enough for her to see the end of what remained of her first squad. Sasuke lasted longer than Naruto, the blonde having lost his kyuubi long enough for it to impact his chakra system and scar his organs.

She truly has nothing…

The release is jarring. Death takes her by the hand, and helps her back to her feet. This doesn’t look right. It doesn't feel right. The shinigami doesn’t look right, most of all. It’s head not shaped like anything she’s seen before, hands far too long and multifaceted to be real bone.

Its maw opens, and she’s gone for real this time. 

~~~

Naruto kept his promise even as he died. He brought Sasuke back, he killed that goddess, saved the nations. He did everything Sakura couldn’t. Her flesh is burnt red from the sun, and the heat is visible from where she lays in the scalding sand.

It’s too soft to be sand. But it is, and she accepts it.

Soon, the sun rests red across the horizon, and she can feel people approaching her. She hasn’t moved in so long, hasn’t seen anyone in so long, she wonders who they are.

They come closer, and closer, and she sees that they aren’t wearing the United Shinobi Alliance uniform(or at least what they decided what it was for the larger nations). Her eyes flicker closed for a moment, and when she opens them again she sees that the people are closer. They aren’t wearing the United Shinobi Alliance headband either…

Someone, a redhead, kneels next to her, and places their warm hands next to her throat. Her body jumps and she rolls over and stumbles to stand but her knees are too weak, so she has to settle remaining kneeled where she is. She eyes them, tired and worried. Her fingers try and find a kunai, or a shuriken, but her packs are empty. She pulls her lips back, baring her teeth, but her throat is too dry, too sore to make any noise.

“Lady,” One of them, behind the man who tried to touch her, mutters lowly, “Are you alright? Where is your platoon?”

She sees the blues of the chidori and the rasengan, the blood and the neverending heat of the battlefield. “Dead,” she manages to whisper, but she doesn’t know them, they don’t know her, why are they asking her where her platoon is? Aren’t they dead too? “‘M dead, all dead, dead.” It’s a sick mantra, but she can see the way they look at her they understand it too.

“We need to know your ID, ma’am, where is your headband?” The same man asks, and the one who touch her neck stands back up, opting to stand behind the speaker. It seems he’s their elected leader.

She curls her tongue in her mouth, grimacing. She lost it in the skirmish with Kaguya. “Lost,” she mouths, voice too weak to even whisper anymore.

“You poor girl,” one of them mutters, and the group slowly approaching, their hands up, reaching for her.

Sakura has to hold herself down, refraining from attacking him.

“We’re approaching you now, okay? We have to take you back to the village, get your ID, y’know, that kind of stuff.” He says, before he comes to kneel beside her. “Is it alright if I touch you?”

She nods, and braces herself for the handling. They’re quick about placing her on the back of one man, the one who has hair the color of blood, and even quicker about getting back home. Home is so far away for her.

They arrive to Sunagakure faster than she thought that they could, but she also knows that she probably passed out a few times, her eyes still heavy and limbs numb. The homes here are domes, their curved signature caused by the harsh winds and relentless sandstorms. 

Sakura has done so much already to keep herself alive, to keep herself fighting, why isn’t she fighting? Isn’t there a war to be fought? But… Sasuke and Naruto already took care of it. They always do. She struggles to fall out of the man's back, intent on finding her squad, her boys.

He protests, mutter something about ‘stop moving you idiot’ and she returns in kind.

“I have to find them, I have to find my squad, they’re out there, they’re out there,” she whispers, a sob catching at the back of her throat, “I have to find them, I have to find them, it isn’t over yet, they haven’t taken care of the mission, we have to complete the mission.” She manages to writhe herself off of him, but her landing on the ground is soft and disturbed by his chakra strings. She cuts them off of her limbs with trained ease so quickly she doesn’t realize what she’s done until she’s back on the ground again.

“Ma’am, where were they last?” One of the men ask, the one with the weird scar on his face, “We can get them if they’re still alive.”

She chokes on that sob now, and her face wettens with tears, “NO!” She shrills out, “They’re dead, I know it I know it, I saw it myself, they didn’t- they couldn’t- we didn’t finish it, it’s still out there, we need- I need to finish the mission!”

“Hey, hey, the mission has been completed, we need to get you to see someone about your condition and then you can report your mission.” one of them tells ehr, and he doesn’t even mean to sooth her, he doesn’t mean anything to her.

She wheezes, her chest is tight and her throat constricts, and more tears bubble from her eyes. She nods shakily, and lets herself be lead into the hospital.

There, she’s dropped off by the squad, and left in the supervision of the redhead who carried her. He scowls at her, and she scowls in turn, pulling her chapped lips back. They sit in a lobby, the salmon walls distractingly easy to get lost in. Sakura doesn’t realize she’s being talked to until someone taps her knee. Instinct tells her to grab the wrist, but she only manages a jolt of adrenaline through her body.

“Miss,” a nurse says, a sweet edge to her voice that suggests that she’s used to this kind of behaviour, “I am your nurse for now, you may call me Airi. We’ll head off to a closed room to talk some, and as protocol Sasori-san here will watch as we talk, just to keep information secure and have another witness to account for things.”

Sakura nods, her movements jerky and unnatural for her. Her hand grips her wrist and she stands and follows the nurse. The redhead follows her, and the name is bringing up some red flags in her mind. They pass three doors on the left, and two doors on the right where a large window is situated between a room, showing the white light of the sun outside. 

On the third door on her left is where the nurse lets her in. It continues with the salmon colored theme, but there are mahogany seats and an intricate table next to one of them, a clipboard with incomprehensible papers on them. Sakura stands in the middle of it all until Airi gestures for her to sit.

“This is just protocol, miss, but I will need to ask you for your ID.”

“I- I don’t think I have one.” Sakura murmurs, her grip on her wrist tightening, “I- I just do as I’m told, I’ve never had to deal with an ID I guess.”

Airi hums, and grabs the clipboard, and sits down, “Do you know where you are?”

“Somewhere in suna I guess, but I’ve never been great with geography.”

“What year is it? Who is the current Kazekage?”

Sakura feels something wrong, and twists her face in confusion. “Kazekage? I- uh- it’s 234, it should be March. Why wouldn’t I know who the Kazekage is? Is Gaara here?”

“Do you know where ‘Gaara’ is?” The way Airi says it makes Sakura’s heart twist. Gaara is their kazekage, do they not know that?

“He was on the frontlines in Grass I heard, but there was a rumor that no one made it back… why are you asking me these things?”


End file.
